The next few weeks are all about the 50-over Cup and it could be interesting to see what impact the international game has on the domestic competition.

With better wickets being produced and one-day international totals now reaching over 400, some of that could have an effect and make for some very entertaining matches.

Hopefully we can play our part and perform well – we’ve certainly got the players to do so. Personally I think it’s nice to play 50 overs rather than 40 because it means you can bat properly.

It’s hard to get the consistency you need over the course of a long season, with players going away on international duty or getting injured, but at some stage you need to get on a roll and this would be a good time to do it.

There are always challenges and every team has to face them, but I think the key, in any format of the game, is to find a formula and stick to it.

When I was at Somerset, they had that with Marcus Trescothick and Craig Kieswetter up top, Alfonso Thomas bowling his death overs, Murali Kartik with a bit of spin in the middle and so on.

In a way, we all knew how the game was going to pan out. You want to have guys in the team who really know their roles and then the rest tends to fall into place.

Of course, we’ve still got two Twenty20 games to go before that – and, although for us the tournament’s essentially done, you have to treat every game as an opportunity to get better at what you’re doing.

There’s still plenty to be excited about this summer – we’ve done well in the County Championship and we have to stay strong and finish as high in the table as we can.

That’s always been the challenge for Middlesex – to see how tough and resilient we are and make sure we’re still right up there at the end of the season.